Lawrence City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St., is pictured on May 3, 2016.
In their first discussion of the city’s 2022 budget, city leaders said they would like to keep the property tax rate flat and were interested in ways to mitigate the city’s rising utility rates.
As part of its study session Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission discussed 2021 revenue projections and directed staff regarding key policy questions that will affect the 2022 budget. Commissioners agreed that they did not want to increase the city’s property tax rate as part of the budget.
“I definitely want to leave the mill levy flat,” Mayor Brad Finkeldei said. “I think that’s a starting point.”
Lawrence City Commissioner Stuart Boley is pictured Thursday, Dec. 28, 2017 outside City Hall in downtown Lawrence.
Commissioner Stuart Boley has filed for reelection to the Lawrence City Commission.
Boley, who is a retired auditor with the Internal Revenue Service, was elected to the commission in 2015 and served as mayor in 2018.
Regarding why he wants to continue his service on the commission, Boley said that with the commission’s new strategic plan and priority based budgeting process, he thinks the commission is making progress in providing excellent city services to Lawrence residents at a reasonable cost. He said he would like to continue that work.
photo by: Nick Krug
A Haskell Indian Nations University graduate watches the commencement while wearing a decorated cap during the 2018 commencement ceremony on Friday, May 18, 2018 at the Coffin Sports Complex.
Graduating students at Haskell Indian Nations University have the option to celebrate their accomplishments in person or virtually on Friday, thanks to a local community center and a Haskell student organization.
Sacred Ground Haskell, a community center and campus ministry organization across the street from the university, will be hosting a graduation ceremony, dinner and powwow for Haskell graduates.
Deon Prue, ministry leader at Sacred Ground Haskell, said the celebration would be for Haskell students who graduated in the spring of 2020 or fall of 2020, in addition to those graduating this spring. These students did not have the opportunity to have a real graduation ceremony at Haskell because of the COVID-19 pandemic and precautions surrounding the health of stude
The Lawrence Outdoor Aquatic Center, pictured Thursday, July 7, 2016.
After not being able to open the public pool last summer because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Lawrence Parks and Recreation Department is planning a comeback this summer.
A full comeback, though, will require a lot more lifeguards. The city needs to hire about 100 more lifeguards to open all areas of both the indoor and outdoor pools safely. Roger Steinbrock, who oversees the Parks and Rec marketing division, said the department was working to get enough staff to open all areas of the Outdoor Aquatic Center, 727 Kentucky St.
“I just want the community to know that we want the pool open too,” Steinbrock said. “We want to provide fun for the community; that’s what summer is all about and what Parks and Recreation is all about.”